CASUALTIES COMPARED WITH THOSE OF EUROPEAN WARS--
LOSS IN EACH ARM OF THE SERVICE--
DEATHS FROM DISEASE--
CLASSIFICATION OF DEATHS BY CAUSES.

It was the greatest war
of the century. On the Union side alone, 110,070 men were killed in battle, while 249,458
more died from disease, accidents, in military prisons, or from other causes. Including
both sides, over half a million lives were lost. There have been wars which have lasted
longer-- wars with intermittent and desultory campaigns; but, in this struggle the two
armies for four years never let go their clutch upon each other's throat. For four years
the echo of the picket's rifle never ceased.
It is hard to realize the meaning of the
figures, 110,070 men killed; and that, on one side only. It is easy to imagine one man
killed; or ten men killed; or, perhaps, a score of men killed. With some effort of the
mind one can picture a hundred men stretched, lifeless and bloody on the ground. The
veteran recalls, as if in a dream, the sight of many more lying on some battle field; but
even he is unable to comprehend the dire meaning of the one hundred thousand, whose every
unit represents a soldier's bloody grave.
The figures are too large. They will be better
understood, however, and a more intelligent idea will be formed if they are compared with
the losses of other wars. A better idea will also be obtained of the great struggle which
occurred within our own borders, and with it will come a fuller recognition of American
manhood.
The Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71 was one of
the greatest of European wars. Larger armies were never assembled. The Germans took
797,950 men into France. Of this number, 28,277 were killed, or died of wounds-- a loss of
3.1 per cent. In the Crimean war, the allied armies lost 3.2 per cent. in killed, or
deaths from wounds. In the war of 1866, the Austrian army lost 2.6 per cent. from the same
cause. But, in the American Civil War the Union Armies lost 4.7 per cent., and the
Confederates over 9 per cent.; and this despite the greater area of country, which
required a large share of the troops to protect the lines of communication. There are no
figures on record to show that, even in the Napoleonic wars, there was ever a greater
percentage of loss in killed. In fact, all the statistics pertaining to the earlier wars
of the century are loosely stated, and bear on their face a lack of accuracy. The
historians of that period give all battle losses in round numbers, the killed, wounded,
missing, and prisoners being lumped together in one amount. Each writer treats the
casualties as an unimportant part of his story, and seems to have made no effort to arrive
at anything like an accurate or classified statement. Perhaps, the facts were not
attainable and the historians were obliged to accept the wild, exaggerated stories of
which there are always a plenty, and which soon crowd out of sight the truthful
narratives.
The two great battles of the age, in point of
loss, are Waterloo and Gettysburg. Between them there is a remarkable similarity, both in
numbers engaged and extent of casualties.
At Waterloo, the French numbered 80,000 men, and
252 guns; the Allies numbered 72,000 men, and 186 guns. At Gettysburg, the Union Army
numbered 82,000 men, and 300 guns; the Confederates, 70,000 men, and 250 guns. At
Waterloo, Wellington's army lost 23,185; at Gettysburg, Meade's army lost 23,003. The loss
of the French at Waterloo has never been officially announced, but has been estimated at
26,300; the Confederate loss at Gettysburg, as officially reported by the Confederate
Surgeon-General, was 20,448, to which must be added 7,077 wounded and unwounded prisoners
whose names were omitted from his lists, but whose names appear on the records at
Washington. In short, the battles of Waterloo and Gettysburg were fought with from 70,000
to 82,000 men on each side, and the combatants lost about 23,000 men each.
In the Franco-Prussian war, the greatest loss
occurred at the battle of Gravelotte, where the Germans lost 4,449 killed (including the
mortally wounded), 15,189 wounded, and 939 missing; total, 20,577, out of 146,000 troops
engaged, exclusive of 65,000 reserves. At Gettysburg, Meade's army sustained a greater
loss with half the number engaged.
It may be suggested that the Franco-Prussian war
was, comparatively, of brief duration, and hence a comparison of the aggregate casualties
cannot properly be made. But, in the American Civil War, during the six months following
May 4, 1864, the various Union armies sustained a greater loss than the German armies did
during the whole Franco-Prussian war. The total loss of the German army in that war was
28,277 killed or mortally wounded, 85,482 wounded, and 14,138 missing; total, 127,897.
All historians agree that Borodino was the
bloodiest battle since the introduction of gunpowder. The casualties in that battle have
been variously stated: The Encyclopedia Brittannica puts the Russian loss at 30,000 in
killed, wounded, and prisoners, and the French loss at "considerably above
20,000." Allison gives the losses at Borodino in round numbers only, placing the
French loss at 50,000, and the Russian at 45,000. The most credible statement is found in
the Journal of The London Statistical Society, which places the number of killed and
wounded in the French army at Borodino at 28,085, out of 133,000 troops present on the
field. The Russian army numbered 132,000 at that battle, and there is nothing to show that
its loss was greater than that of its antagonist. Although the number of killed and
wounded at Borodino was greater, numerically, than at Waterloo and Gettysburg, the
percentage of loss was very much less.
The largest armies were marshalled at Leipsic,
"the battle of the Nations." On that field the allies concentrated 330,000 men ;
Napoleon's army numbered 175,000. The statements of the casualties as made by various
historians are so conflicting, and are so loosely stated, that no definite idea of the
loss can be obtained. It was greater, probably, than at Borodino.
In the American Civil War, the Union Armies lost
110,070 killed or mortally wounded, and 275,175 wounded; total, 385,245, exclusive of the
missing in action whose number has not, as yet, been officially stated. Of the 110,070
deaths from battle, 67,058 were killed on the field; the remainder, 43,012, died of their
wounds. This loss was divided among the different arms of the service as follows:

Service

Officers

Enlisted Men

Total

Ratio of Officers to Men

Infantry

5,461

91,424

96,885

1:16.7

Sharpshooters

23

443

466

1:17.7

Cavalry

671

9,925

10,596

1:14.7

Light Artillery

116

1,701

1,817

1:14.6

Heavy Artillery

5

124

129

1:24.8

Engineers

4

72

76

1:18.0

General Officers

67

----

67

-----

General Staff

18

----

18

-----

Unclassified

----

16

16

----

Total

6,365

103,705

110,070

1:16.3

The losses in the three principal classes of troops were:

KILLED OR DIED OF WOUNDS.

Class

Officers

Enlisted Men

Total

Ratio of Officers to Men

Volunteers

6,078

98,815

104,893

1:16.2

Regulars

144

2,139

2,283

1:14.8

Colored Troops

143

2,751

2,894

1:19.2

Total

6,365

103,705

110,070

1:16.3

DIED BY DISEASE.
(NOT INCLUDING DEATHS IN PRISONs.)

Class.

Officers

Enlisted Men

Total

Ratio of Officers to Men

Volunteers

2,471

168,039

167,510

1:66.7

Regulars

104

2,448

2,552

1:23.5

Colored Troops

137

29,521

29,658

1:215.5

Total

2,712

197,008

199,720

1:72.6

The total number of
men enrolled during the four years of the war was 2,778,304. But a large proportion of
them enlisted for ninety days, six months, one year, or two years, and reŽntered the
service upon the expiration of their term of enlistment. Thus, the names of many soldiers
appear two or more times upon the rolls, and in different regiments. Reduced to a three
years' standard of enlistment, the total enrollment of the Union Army would equal
2,326,168 men. Using this as a basis for computation, the following percentages are
obtained:

KILLED OR DIED OF WOUNDS.

Class.

Enrolled

Killed

Per cent

Volunteers

2,080.193

104,893

5.0

Regulars

67,000

2,283

3.4

Colored Troops

178,975

2,894

1.6

Total

2,236,168

110,070

4.0

DIED OF DISEASE
(NOT INCLUDING DEATHS IN PRISONS.)

Class.

Enrolled

Died

Per cent.

Volunteers

2,080,193

167,510

8.0

Regulars

67,000

2,552

3.8

Colored Troops

178,975

29,658

16.5

Total

2,236,168

199,720

8.5

DEATHS FROM ALL CAUSES.

Class.

Enrolled

Killed

Per cent

Volunteers

2,080,193

316,883

15.2

Regulars

67,000

5,798

8.6

Colored Troops

178,975

36,847

20.5

Total

2,326,168

359,528

15.4

The number of deaths
from disease was remarkable, being more than double the number from battle. Without
including the deaths in Confederate prisons, or those caused by accidents, drowning,
sunstrokes, suicides, executions, murders, or other causes, there were 199,-720 of the
Union Army who died of disease-- in camp, in hospitals, or at home- before their term of
enlistment had expired. Part of this extraordinary loss was due to the severity of the
campaigns. The extent of territory marched over was immense; some of the campaigns were
made under a tropical sun, and some of the battles were fought amid the snows of winter.
The Ninth Corps fought on the Carolina Coast, and then moved a thousand miles westward to
the fever-smitten camps at Vicksburg. The Twelfth Corps, after fighting for two years in
Virginia, moved to Tennessee, from whence it fought its way through Georgia to Atlanta;
marched from Atlanta to the Sea, and thence northward to its old battle grounds, having
encircled half a continent. Men from the woods of Maine encamped two thousand miles
distant along the bayous of Louisiana. Men from the prairies of the Northwest toiled and
battled among the everglades of Florida, and along the Gulf. Human endurance was often
tested to its utmost, and the restless, moving armies left in their wake a line of
countless graves.
And, yet, some of the greatest losses by disease
occurred in regiments that were not subjected to the exposure of active service;
regiments, which performed garrison duty only, and were provided with comfortable quarters
and good food. The greatest loss by disease occurred in some black regiments which were
doing garrison duty, and were stationed in the same district from which they had been
recruited and where they had lived all their lives. Then, again, certain regiments among
the white troops suffered from disease, unaccountably, more than others. The Vermont
Brigade, while encamped in Virginia, in 1861, lost scores of men by disease, while the
regiments in adjoining camps were entirely exempt; and, yet, these Vermonters excelled in
physique, cleanliness and intelligence.
The most striking feature of the mortuary
statistics is that the regiments which incurred the greatest loss in battle are the ones
which suffered least from disease. While, throughout the whole army, the deaths from
disease were double those from bullets, the hard fighting regiments seldom lost even a
like number. One-fifth of the deaths from disease occurred in regiments that never were in
battle.
In connection with this matter one must bear in
mind, also, the ratio of mortality in civil life. Assuming the average age of the soldiers
to be 23 years, the tables of the Life Insurance Actuaries indicate that three-fourths of
the deaths from disease were due to the exposure of a soldier's life; and that the
remainder would have occurred, just the same, if the men had remained at home.
Of those who died from disease, one-fourth died
of fever, principally typhoid; one-fourth died of diarrhea, or other forms of bowel
complaint; nearly one-fourth died from inflammation of the lungs, or consumption,
principally the former; the remaining fourth died of small-pox, measles, brain disease,
erysipelas, and the various forms of disease common to the masses.
The deaths in the Union Army, from all causes,
as officially classified were as follows

DEATHS FROM ALL CAUSES.

Cause

Officers

Enlisted Men

Aggregate

Killed, or died of wounds

6,365

103,705

110,070

Died of disease

2,712

197,008

199,790

In Confederate Prisons

83

24,783

24,866

Accidents

142

3,972

4,114

Drowning

106

4,838

4,944

Sunstrokes

5

308

313

Murdered

37

483

520

Killed after capture

14

90

104

Suicide

26

365

391

Military executions

267

267

Executed by the enemy

4

60

64

Causes known, but unclassified

62

1,972

2,034

Cause not stated

28

12,093

12,121

Aggregate

9,584

349,944

359,528

The deaths from
accidents were caused, principally, by the careless use of fire-arms, explosions of
ammunition, and railway accidents; in the cavalry service, a large number of accidental
deaths resulted from poor horsemanship.
The number of the drowned may seem large, but
the average is less than three men to a regiment. This loss was occasioned largely by
bathing and boating. At times, some regiment would sustain a larger loss while fording
rivers, or landing from small boats in the surf. The Seventy-fifth Pennsylvania, while
crossing the Shenandoah, in April, 1862, lost 2 officers and 51 men, drowned by the
swamping of a scow.
Of the Union soldiers confined in Confederate
prisons, 24,866 died of disease, exclusive of 2,072, who died of wounds while in the
enemy's hands, and 3,218 others who died from various causes, known and unknown. As to
what proportion of these 24,866 deaths was due to harsh treatment, instead of disease, it
would be difficult to say. In the Northern military prisons, where the inmates were
furnished with good food and quarters, the death rate was nearly the same; 30,152
Confederates died in Northern prisons. But these pages have nothing to do with the prison
question other than the statistics.
The principal place of confinement for Union
soldiers was at Andersonville, Ga. Out of 45,613 prisoners confined there, 12,912 died-
or, 28 per cent. the greatest number present at any time was 33,114-- on August 8, 1864.
The greatest number of deaths in any one day was 127--on August 23, 1864. The daily
average of deaths was 29.
The largest military prison in the North was
located at Elmira, N.Y. As at Andersonville, it consisted of an open stockade or prison
pen. In it were confined 11,916 prisoners, of whom 5,994 died, or 25 per cent. The
greatest mortality occurred in March, 1865, in which month 495 died at Elmira. Of the
total number that died, 2,988 were buried in a field which has since been ploughed over
and planted with wheat; and now the grain of summer and the snow of winter show no sign of
the hapless Confederates who are laid at rest beneath its surface.